Iran humiliates student protestor in women’s clothing

Become an Observer

One of the students behind
Monday's student day protest in Iran has appeared dressed as a woman on the Fars
state news agency website. The website quotes him admitting that he dressed as
a woman to try to avoid being arrested by the police.

Iranian student day on Dec.
7 was marked by widespread anti-Islamic regime demonstrations across the
capital. One of the organisers, student Majid Tavakoli from the Amirkabir University of
Technology, is seen here encouraging the crowds before his arrest.

Fars News published
a series of photos of Tavakoli wearing the chador, taken at the Ministry of
Intelligence shortly after he was detained. In the same article the agency
published a Photoshopped image of the Islamic Republic's first president, Abolhassan Bani
Sadr,
in the same attire, explaining that he too used the disguise to flee the
country in 1981.

Former president Bani Sadr. Left, the image Photoshopped by Fars. Right, the original.

Tavakoli drew attention to
himself for the first time in 2006 when he shouted over a speech by Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad during a visit to his university. He was arrested shortly
afterwards and sentenced to 15 months of prison for a "blasphemous" article
printed in the university newspaper.

We all know that this was a
hoax. People who saw Majid arrested all confirm that he was wearing his own
clothes [the blue jacket he's seen wearing in the video], and that he was
severely beaten on his arrest. If you look closely, you can see that his chin
is wounded [see enlarged photos here]."

As a sign of solidarity with Majid Tavakoli, a number of Iranians have photographed themselves wearing the chador and posted the images online. These pictures were sent to us by one of our Iranian Observers, Alireza.